The Masticator was started by two Minneapolis-area visionaries as a zine in the summer of 2004. Issue two was never realized, and half of its founding force moved to Brooklyn. Three years later, the electronic version of The Masticator has far eclipsed its single print-bound predecessor. Today, The Masticator posts art reviews, random urban snapshots, gentle political mockery, and other short articles on subjects like cars, fashion, and books.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Very Specialized New York Maps

True, it leaves out Columbia University in Manhattan and the U.S. Tennis Center and Shea Stadium in Queens, but Streeter Seidell's White Folks’ Guide to the NYC Subway System is still pretty amusing. It's almost funnier to read all the irate comments -- mostly of the 'why is my stop not in there?' variety. Are people upset about that? Should they be? Inidentally, my stop in Brooklyn is not included.

Anyone who has lived in or even visited New York City knows that public restrooms no longer exist here. That Starbucks locations, although they are everywhere, do not always have bathrooms. And if they do, it is a single unisex bathroom with a queue that never lets up. McDonald's locations sometimes lock their bathrooms. It's awful, and many New Yorkers are obsessed with the problem.

According to the New York Times, Mintz suffers from ulcerative colitis, which means he really needs to know where these bathrooms are.

As the Times points out, this has been done before: NYRestroom.com lists 258 restrooms on a Google map. It includes the categories: public, bookstore, coffee shop, hotel, and other. As of yet, the map does not appear to be available for mobile devices like Blackberries and iPhones.

It was created by Wansoo Im, who was profiled in the New Yorker in 2006. “If everyone contributes information to the map, pretty soon there will be no more rest-room problem,” Im optimistically told John Seabrook.